Lawyer busted for remaining silent during traffic stop in New Jersey files suit against state police

A lawyer who was busted for staying quiet during a traffic stop in New Jersey is making noise now with a lawsuit against the state police, NJ.com reported.

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At least three New Jersey troopers insisted after Rebecca Musarra was pulled over that refusing to answer questions was a criminal act, according to the lawsuit.

Musarra alleges the troopers violated rules so basic that anyone who watches police procedurals on TV would know about the legally recognized right to remain silent, NJ.com reported.

Trooper Matthew Stazzone had stopped Musarra for suspected speeding on Oct. 16 on Route 519 near the border with Pennsylvania in Warren County. The trooper requested her license, registration and insurance, and asked if she knew why she was being pulled over, according to dashcam footage obtained by NJ.com.

Musarra said she provided the documents but would not respond to questions from the troopers.

"You're going to be placed under arrest if you don't answer my questions," one of the troopers can be heard saying before she was handcuffed and taken to a police station.

Rebecca Musarra was placed in handcuffs after not answering questions from N.J. state police. (NJ.com via youtube)

She said that she was a lawyer and was not obliged to answer questions, according to NJ.com.

After a tense exchange that included Musarra being put in handcuffs, she asked the troopers if she was being detained, and one of them said, "Yeah, obstruction."

After she was placed in the police car, Musarra was read her Miranda rights, including "you have a right to remain silent," NJ.com reported.

Musarra was taken to state police barracks in Washington, N.J. She said she was patted down twice and handcuffed to a bench in a cell, the news website reported. They also would not let her call her parents, telling her that they would call for her. They never did, Musarra told NJ.com.

In New Jersey, obstruction is getting in the way of law enforcement through "flight, intimidation, force, violence, or physical interference or obstacle, or by means of any independently unlawful act," according to NJ.com.

A supervisor then watched dashboard camera footage and let Musarra go without charges, admitting "a mistake was made, and to chalk it up to training, and that (Stazzone) was just a rookie," NJ.com reported.

Musarra was not charged, and the supervisor, Trooper James Butler, apologized.

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The state is seeking to have the case dismissed, claiming that the troopers "acted in good faith and without fraud or malice."

Musarra, who is from Philadelphia and works for a Delaware firm, told NJ.com that while cops "have a difficult job to do," there has to be "some sort of accountability."

"Who knows what will happen to the next person who comes down the road who decides they have these constitutional rights they want to assert?" Musarra told the news website. "What happens to them when they don't have the sort of privileges I have?"